The wait for refreshed iMacs could be over before the end of April, according to a rumor circulated Thursday by Geeksugar.

The female technology site refers to "Apple tipsters" who say the update is due next week and will most likely appear on Tuesday, as with most Apple updates. While short on details, the news outlet adds that the sources correctly identified this year's MacBook revision a day before it appeared and also says that processor speeds and hard drive upgrades are the primary candidates for improvement.

Apple is known to be developing a Penryn-based refresh of both the iMac and its Mac mini cousin for the spring, delivering the cooler-running and faster processors to systems that haven't been updated since August of 2007.

iPhone SDK update adds OpenGL ES emulation

Apple this week issued its fourth beta edition of the iPhone SDK for third-party developers.

The update is described by Apple as enabling OpenGL ES graphics to run directly from the iPhone Simulator software, saving developers the trouble of attaching a live iPhone or iPod touch to test software using the mobile 3D graphics standard.

No other major additions are reported as accompanying the release, which is free for registered iPhone developers.

Boot Camp Update 2.1

Apple on Thursday released three updates to Boot Camp, each of them targeted at improving support for different Microsoft operating systems.

Version 2.1 is available for users running Windows XP (215MB), Vista 32-bit (228MB), and Vista 64-bit (236MB). The update is required before Windows XP users can install Microsoft's Service Pack 3 update.

Users must run the update from their Boot Camp partitions.

Common Criteria Tools for 10.5

Also released this week are Apple's Common Criteria Tools for 10.5 (103KB).

The utility lets IT managers and other security-focused users assess whether a Mac OS X Leopard system meets minimum security requirements for use in certain data-sensitive conditions, such as US Federal Government offices or information security firms.

Comments

I just hope they really did do full graphics updates and such... won't find out till I get home from work.

They should be updating their Windows drivers as often as their OS X updates. Quite sad that this is the first update since Leopard came out. I've been running other drivers for my MBP graphics so that I can correctly have my screen ratio displayed when not in a 16:9 app, among other things (like InputRemapper for my fans.)

I agree - I've been using hacked nvidia drivers for a while which has caused a few black screens on startup (which was marginally better than the random crashes I had with the Apple-provided drivers)...

Apple should make a policy of updating at least the graphics drivers every few months - new graphics drivers come out almost weekly improving the performance of games etc...

May 6 is the following Tuesday, is the 10th anniversary of the release of the iMac - wouldn't a product refresh make more sense on that date?

They updated the iMac last August just after a tax free weekend in my state. Looks like the same thing will happen for the April tax free weekend in my state. Beginning to see a pattern to clear out old inventory.

How about an iMac that is actually serviceable like the first iMac G5 was?

The first iMac G5 was a rare glimpse at a possible future of serviceability that probably won't be revisited. If they're willing to manufacture computers that require suction cups to swap the hard drive (like the current iMac) - I would not ever expect any give from them in that respect.

Agreed- but additionally a blu-ray burner. Isn't that what iMovieHD is all about? How else to transport out HD movies we've created? Give me a blu-ray as an option at the very least.

However. I want more than a refresh though. I want a completely new iMac that is not modeled on the iPhone's looks - an original. The current one is the least astheticially pleasing one in it's history as far as I'm concerned. It's like an iPhone/Dell PC look-a-like.

Bring computers back to Apple as the number one priority. Not electronics, per se as in Sony - as in the iPhone.

And I don't want to hear about the price factor. If Apple want us to spend $1,800 on a sub-par skinny notebook and/or $600 on a cellphone, those of us into computers and their applications should at the very least have an option to buy blu-ray drives as an option especially now that the format war is over.

Your kidding rightThere using 8x dvd burner.You think there going to jump past 16x to a blu-ray.I'm buying an imac next thursday so I'm new to apple and even I know they don't make huge hard ware jumps.They might throw in a 16x burner,but we all know they don't break the speed barriers when it comes to burners and GPU's.Thats apple, they know they don't have to,there computers and ipods sell even though there components are overpriced and low level performance.its all about ease of use and cosmetics.

Your kidding rightThere using 8x dvd burner.You think there going to jump past 16x to a blu-ray.I'm buying an imac next thursday so I'm new to apple and even I know they don't make huge hard ware jumps.They might throw in a 16x burner,but we all know they don't break the speed barriers when it comes to burners and GPU's.Thats apple, they know they don't have to,there computers and ipods sell even though there components are overpriced and low level performance.its all about ease of use and cosmetics.

Dude blu-ray already exists in PCs- why not Macs? Hello!

And don't say Apple is overpriced- you will get a lot a s%=t for that here- trust me.

Agreed- but additionally a blu-ray burner. Isn't that what iMovieHD is all about? How else to transport out HD movies we've created? Give me a blu-ray as an option at the very least.

However. I want more than a refresh though. I want a completely new iMac that is not modeled on the iPhone's looks - an original. The current one is the least astheticially pleasing one in it's history as far as I'm concerned. It's like an iPhone/Dell PC look-a-like.

Bring computers back to Apple as the number one priority. Not electronics, per se as in Sony - as in the iPhone.

And I don't want to hear about the price factor. If Apple want us to spend $1,800 on a sub-par skinny notebook and/or $600 on a cellphone, those of us into computers and their applications should at the very least have an option to buy blu-ray drives as an option especially now that the format war is over.

1. HD is extremely difficult to encode. How long does it take to encode a regular DVD these days on iMac? 2x real time? Think 4 to 8 times more. Basically, it will take you one whole day to encode a 2-hour BR.

2. DVD/HD DVD/BR contains a lot of navigation structures. Remember the early commercial DVD's in 1997 and all those compatibility problems with hardware DVD players? If there is one little mistake with any of those navigation structures, it may work on some players, then won't work in another.

So, it will follow the usualy pattern - first, the profesional software (BR support in DVD Studio Pro HD), and BR drive will become an option in Mac Pro first. I don't expect that to happen soon...maybe 2009 or 2010. Then, maybe 2 to 3 years from that, iDVD HD will support BR authoring and we will see the burner drive in iMac's.

And don't say Apple is overpriced- you will get a lot a s%=t for that here- trust me.

It's still too soon for Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray is an expensive option for at least the next year. Apple definitely should make it available in the MacPros, but not the iMacs. Third parties provide external drives for those that need/want one.